Sega shared an extended Stranger than Heaven demo playthrough trailer as part of its gamescom 2026 promotions for the new RGG Studio game. It features a slice of gameplay highlighting what it will be like to play as Makoto Daito in-game during the 1915, 1929, and 1943 time periods. It also offers some of the most extended opportunities to see how the combat system in Stranger than Heaven will work, given it changes things up from the formula used in the original Yakuza games and Judgment.
During Stranger than Heaven, we’ll follow Makoto during different periods of his life. This first 1915 phase takes place in Kokura, Japan. He’s tasked with dealing with someone by his boss. The first minute and a half of the 12 minute segment is dedicated to setting the scene, showing the character walking down a city street, highlighting how conversations from folks in the background will look, and letting us see how character models and locations will appear.
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At about the 1:35 mark, we get our first look at the Stranger than Heaven combat system. Like the earlier Yakuza games and Judgment, it will be an active system. However, here we’ll be using the left and right shoulder and trigger buttons to control whether Makoto strikes with his left or right sides, holding B at the same time as LB or RB to guard. The A action button is tied to evasion, while the D-pad down and right buttons are tied to eating food or using items. Health is represented by circles, with percentages being removed as damage is dealt to Makoto or foes.
The other segments also offer opportunities to showcase different locations and combat moments in various time periods. The 1929 Kure and 1943 Osaka ones both come up. In each case, we get to see the location and some general fights. 1929 comes up first at the 3:25 mark, and that includes what appears to be an extended boss fight that runs from the five minute mark to the 7:55 one. The 1943 Osaka segment takes place during a rainy night and involves a more generic enemy encounter.
Here’s the full Stranger than Heaven gamescom 2026 demo playthrough trailer.
At pretty much every major event in 2026, we’ve seen Sega and RGG bring up Stranger than Heaven and share new details about the game. The May 2026 announcement went over the story, showed we’ll be returning to Kamurocho from Like a Dragon / Yakuza, and revealed Ado, Satoshi Fujihara, Snoop Dogg, and Tori Kelly will be in the game and sing its theme song together. During Summer Game Fest 2026, more details came up alongside the reveal that Tupac Shakur’s likeness will appear in-game.
Stranger than Heaven will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on January 15, 2027.